Flushing valve for toilet tanks



1953 J. CASTELLANO 2,626,400

FLUSHING VALVE FOR TOILET TANKS Filed Oct. 24, 1950 FIG. I. F|G.2.

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J4 MES cAsTELLAA/o BY W MW A TTORNEYS Patented Jan. 27, 1953 UNI ED STAT E S PAT ENT OF Fl C E FLUSHIN G VALVE FOR TOILET TANKS James. Castellano, New York, N. Y.

Application October. 24, 1950", Serial'No. 191 ,79

(Cl. ii-67):

4L Claims. 1

This. invention relates to. a new andimproved valve control means'forfiush: tanks for toilets, its prime object being the provision of: novel valve control means, whereby the amount of'water discharged therefrom may be controlled. This is accomplished by a novel construction of the valve stem, by means of which it is possible to prematurely re-seat the flushing valve at any point during a flushing operation.

Every time a conventional flush tank is operated, the watercontentsthereof must drop until it substantially reaches the level of the valve seat of the flush outlet at the? bottom of the. tank before the buoyant. valve is seated, thereby coneluding a single flushing operation. This means that once the tank. handle is actuated most of the water inv the tank is discharged, as there are no means in the conventional flush tanks for regulating. or controlling the amount of the water discharged during a flushing operation. In the course of a single flushing operation, at least five gallons of water are discharged each time". This is obviously an unnecessary waste of water, as in many instances only a small amount of water is required for efiective flushing.

It is therefore the principal object of this invention to provide simple and novel valve control means for flush tanks, whereby the operator may stop the discharge of the water in the tank at any time during a flushing operation, thereby controlling the amount of water discharged at will. The said valve control means can thus be readily actuated to move the buoyant valve into its seat, when the water in the tank is at any level above thesaid. seat.

Other andadditional objects and advantages of the invention. are as follows (a) Water is greatly conserved. .withoutgsacrie ficing the full requirements of complete sanitation;

(b) Overflow of the toilet bowl can be prevented when the bowl becomes stopped or clogged;

(c) The improved control means can readily be installed in all. existing types of flush tanks;

(at). The said. control means may be produced at. low cost;

(e) The said control means are simple and efiective in operation. and. highly effective. in conserving water; and

Entanglement of the valve stem is avoided.

Other objects of the invention will be setfo'rth in the following description and drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the essential 2. parts of; a flush assembly embodying the invention, the buoyant valve being seated in its valve seat, and the actuating handle being in its normal horizontal inoperative position;

Fig. 2' is a View similar to Fig. 1, but illustrating the. buoyant valve in its. raised or flushin position;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the improved valve stem; assembled with the. lifting wire link;

Fig- 4 is aview similar to Fig. 3, showing however a slightly'modified form of valve stem; and

Fig. 5 is a view also similar to Fig. 3, but showing still another modification of valve stem.

Only those parts: of the flush tank essential to illustrate the invention have been shown.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, It represents. the usual discharge or flushing outlet of a conventional flush. tank, the upper end H of said outlet constituting a seat for the buoyant valve l2. A vertical overflow pipe l3 communicates with said outlet l0 through the lateral extension [4.

A guide bracket [5 is secured to overflow pipe I3 the outer end of said bracket being yokeshaped to form a pair of alined guide bearings l5a and I5?) through which extends the vertically disposed valve stem It. The said guides retain the said valve stem in vertical alinement with the axis of valve seat ll.

The lower threaded end 16a of valve stem !6 is threadedly connected to the upper end of buoyant valve [2, so that when said valve stem is lifted the said buoyant valve is raised therewith. A lifting rod or wire link ll has slidable connection. with said valve. stem l6. Wire link i? is raised by the lever or valve-trip arm It, the upper end Ila of saidv link being inserted into one of the three. small openings Ita formed in the inner end of said lever and then bent downwardly to pivotally' connect the said link to the said lever. The lower end of said link I! is formed with the lateral eye 11b for engagement with. valve stem l6, which will hereinafter be more. fully described.

assembly to meter the Water to be discharged fromthe flush tank. For the. first embodiment of valve stem, reference is madetoFigs. 1 to 3 of the drawings. In this embodiment, the upper end of valve stem I6 is formed with aneye l6b forholding the said valve stem and its assobe explained, said eye IIb is slidable on the upper portion of valve stem I6 intermediate eye I6b and member I60.

As will be understood, the spacing of stop members I-6b and I1b is such that eye I 1?) is capable of a lost-motion action longitudinally of the stem. Also, that lever I8 is so dimensioned and proportioned as to provide a dominant weight factor in favor of the link-attached end, with the link attached to the lever in such manner that the link will move with the lever during the pivotal movement of the latter in either direction. However, as indicated in Fig. 2, the lever weight factor is of lower value than that of the buoyancy factor of valve I2. As a result of these conditions, the eye I ID will normally rest idly upon the lower stop member I6c when the lever is not being operated manually to raise the valve, and is not being manually moved downward during premature closing. Hence, the assembly is readily manually operative to raise the valve from its seated position of Fig. 1, with the eye I It being moved into contact with the upper stop member, with the lever releasable after the valve has been raised sufficiently to clear the suction-affecting zone of the outlet, or into contact with the member I5b. On such release, the lever, link and eye move to such idle position due to the lever weight factor. In such idle position the eye Ilb and lower stop member I60 are in contact and therefore capable of providing forcible downward movement for premature closing immediately upon beginning the upward movement of handle I9, enabling the user to exercise the at will control the assembly is designed to provide.

Referring to Fig. 4, the lifting link and valve stem are substantially the same as just described in Figs. 1 to 3, save for a slight modification in the upper portion of the valve stem. In this embodiment, eye I6b has been replaced by the nut 26b. To accommodate the said nut, the upper end 26a of valve stem 26 has been threaded.

Referring to Fig. 5, it will be noted that the eye I61) and the circular metal member IScof the valve stem I6 illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 have been replaced by the small nuts 36b .and 360 refs spectively. To accommodate the said nuts the upper portion 36a of valve stem 36 has been threaded.

As eye IE1) and circular member Ific of Figs. 1 to 3 perform precisely the same function as nut 26b and circular member 260 of Fig. 4 and also the two spaced small nuts 36b and 360, the following description of the operation of the valve control, means of Figs. 1 to 3 will apply to the slightly modified forms of Figs. 4 and 5.

Fig. 1 shows the buoyant valve I2 seated in its seat I I. In this inoperative or non-flushing position, lateral eye I'Ib of the wire link member I! will rest on circular member I6c, as shown in broken lines. The full lines of said eye I11) and link member I! show the starting position from the said rest position. The starting of the flushing operation is commenced by depressing handle I9 downwardly. When this is done, lever I8 and its depending link member I! are raised in unison, thereby raising and unseating the ball valve I2. The said buoyant valve will thus be raised to its uppermost position, with its top end abutting the bottom end of lower guide bearing I517. In this flushing position, link member I! will assume a vertical position, with the ball valve being supported by the water in the tank.

By reason of the buoyancy of valve I2, normally the said valve would remain elevated until it was drawn on its valve seat II by the suction produced by the weight of the descending water level. However, by reason of the improved construction, it is a very simple matter to overcome the buoyancy of said valve and re-seat the same when the water in the tank is at any level above its valve seat. This can be accomplished, at any time, during a flushin operation'merely by pushing handle I5 upwardly. When this is done, link member I! is returned to the position shown in broken lines in Fig. 1, thereby causing lateral eye III; to impinge and strike against the circular member I60 of valve stem IS, thus forcing ball valve I2 into its seat II, and stopping the exit of the water from the tank. Fig. 2 shows the flush assembly ready for the premature seating of the ball valve as lateral eye III) of link member I! is restin on circular member I60 of valve stem I6. In this manner, the water discharge can be curtailed or metered at any desired water level above the level of the valve seat. In other words, flush valve I2 may be prematurely seated at any time during a flushing operation at the will of the user. Said valve may be thus closed at any time before the full quantity of the water in the tank is discharged.

It will be noted that eye I67) and circular member I60 of valve stem I6 also act as upper and lower stops to respectively limit the upward and downward movement of eye I Ib on said valve stem.

It will be understood that the improved valve stem that constitutes the essence of the invention may be varied without departing from the spirit of the invention. It likewise may be altered as existing installations may require.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination of a flush tank having a discharge outlet, a valve means for controlling the discharge of water through said outlet, said means including a valve stem having its upper end provided with a pair of axially alined stop members, and longitudinally spaced manual means for moving the valve and its stem between the valve open and closed positions at will, said latter means including a pivoted lever and a link carried thereby, said link having its lower end formed with an eye slidably mounted on the valve stem between said stop members and having a lost motion relation to said stop members, said manual means being operative to raise the stem toward its valve-open position by cooperation of the link eye with the upper stop member for normal flushing operation, said manual means being operative at will to prematurely close the opened valve by pressure engagement between the link-eye and the lower stop member to thereby forcibly move the valve and its stem to valveclosed position.

2. A combination as in claim 1 characterized in that the pivoted lever is formed and mounted to position the link eye asresting idly on the 5 lower stop member in the normal inactive position of the lever, pivotal movement of the lever in the desired direction serving to open the valve or to provide premature closing thereof dependent upon the direction of such pivotal movement from an idling position.

3. A combination as in claim 1 characterized in that the upper end of the valve steam is threaded to detachably receive the upper stop member to permit ready assembly of link and stem and to permit variation of the spacing distance between the stop members.

4. A combination as in claim 1 characterized in that the upper end of the stem member is 6 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Number threaded to detachably receive and position the 15 Number UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Madden Dec. 29, 1896 Gove July 3, 1928 Koropczyk June 25, 1929 Dollinger Dec. 6, 1932 Lyons Feb. 26, 1935 Morkisch Feb. 1, 1938 Anderson Apr. 27, 1948 Stegeman Oct. 17, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Switzerland Mar. 16, 1950 France Dec. 10, 1927 

